What does Sonos have in store for the future of home audio?

Sonos reveals it’s bringing you better Spotify and Amazon Echo integration at a special event in New York. We bring you all the action…

Credit: Sonos

When Sonos announced it was hosting a special event in New York called ‘The Future of Sound at Home’, the rumour mill went into overdrive about what we could expect to see.

The home audio giant didn’t disappoint, as it revealed it’s been working on better integration with the Spotify app – making it much easier for you to listen to your favourite tracks on demand. It’s also pairing with Amazon to bring voice controls to its speakers for the first time.

Here’s everything you need to know…

Better Spotify integration

Sonos and Spotify are a dream team when it comes to streaming music – but it’s always felt a bit inconvenient having to control your music with the Sonos app, rather than directly through Spotify. That’s set to change though, as Sonos has announced its improving integration with Spotify. That means you’ll be able to play music on your speakers through the Spotify app itself.

As part of the integration, you’ll have access to familiar Sonos features – like the ability to create multi-room setups and manage different groups – on the Spotify app. Your friends will also be able to play their Spotify libraries on your speaker when they come round without having to download the Sonos app.

What’s more, with the changes, you won’t even need a Wi-Fi connection to play your Spotify library. Regardless of where you are, so long as you can use the Spotify app, you’ll be able to control your Sonos speaker with it.

You could use it to do cool tricks like setting your speakers up to start playing music as you walk in through the door, but it’ll also be pretty useful if your home Wi-Fi tends to dip. A beta version of the new feature will be available for you to test from October this year. Sonos also said it’s hoping to bring the feature to other streaming services like Pandora in future.

Credit: Spotify

Alexa voice controls

Have an Amazon speaker? You’ll soon be able to use it with Sonos too.

From 2017, Sonos will be integrated with any Alexa-enabled device – including the Echo, Tap and Dot speakers. That means you’ll be able to control your speaker with your voice.

Use it to turn on the speaker simply by saying ‘Alexa, play music’, manage different speakers around the house and pause, skip and stop tracks.

In the mood for a certain type of music? Whether it’s rock, funk, pop or dance you’re after – tell Alexa to play that genre and it’ll automatically do it for you, so you can forget having to scroll through all your music to find it. Come across a track you’ve not heard of? Ask Alexa to tell you what it’s called. The integration will come as software update in 2017.